Plastic lenses

[pilotdave 0]

I hear all the time that cheap lenses like the canon kit lens are plastic, and this is really bad because plastic isn't as good as glass. I even read that in some magazine recently.

It's not correct. The plastic that the photographers hate is the body of the lens, and in some lenses like the 18-55 kit lens, the lens mount. Plastic vs. metal, not plastic vs. glass. The actual lens elements are made of glass. Optically, the plastic doesn't play a role. Plastic is light. Light is good. Plastic is good!
I did read that nikon does use plastic for certain elements inside some lenses... are there actually any all-plastic SLR lenses?

Dave